One Down
by Lilianna1
Summary: Oliver is obsessive cumpolsive about Quidditch, so he must have freaked out before he found Harry as a seeker.


One Down  
  
"It's useless." Said Oliver head in hands and staring out at the empty pitch where they had been practicing just moments before. "Absolutely and completely useless, we might as well give the cup to Slytherin this year."  
  
"Oliver we will find a seeker, it's not that big of a deal." Angelina said as she clipped the twigs on her broom tail. Oliver looked as if he had just been told that a pink elephant was going to play seeker for the team this year.  
  
"It's not a big deal," He muttered, "It's not a big deal? Christ Angelina we don't have any hope for this year without a seeker." He looked so distraught that Angelina really felt sorry for him.  
  
"Come on Oliver we'll find someone, and if we don't Alicia will do it."  
  
"No I most certainly will not." Said Alicia as she and Katie walked into the locker room with their brooms swung over their backs and Quidditch robes soaked in mud from the pitch. "I'm a terrible seeker Oliver," She then shot him a big grin, "and where would you find someone to replace me?"  
  
"You're right." Said Oliver collapsing back into despair and throwing his head into his hands moving his hands agitatedly through his hair. "If we use Alicia then we will be down a chaser and nothing will be changed. Alicia's grin slid off her face.  
  
"I didn't mean that, it was a joke." Oliver still didn't look up, and she added with a forced smile, "I'm sure that we will find someone." Katie nodded,  
  
"Seriously Oliver, losing Jen isn't going to be the end of the team, think of all the people who would love to be seeker for our team. Rob has tried out for the past three years he would do it."  
  
"Did someone say Rob?" Fred and George had just appeared outside the locker room hovering on their Brooms, "The guy who couldn't even stay on his broom to catch the Quaffle?"  
  
"We're doomed."  
  
"Oh god Oliver," Said Fred slinging his broom over his shoulder, and turning to Angelina, "Please don't tell me that he is still moping about because we can't find a seeker." Angelina nodded.  
  
"Oliver there is something seriously wrong with your mental state." Oliver looked up from the bench where he was sitting.  
  
"I don't see you two finding us a seeker."  
  
"That's not our job," said George, "You are the captain, it's YOUR responsibility to find us a new seeker."  
  
"Well you could at least bloody well try." Said Oliver peevishly and finally standing up, "It doesn't help you in the least that we can't find anyone to be the seeker."  
  
"Fine, what about Emily?" Said Fred. "She could do it." Angelina snickered; the other two girls rolled their eyes. "What's that supposed to be?" Fred asked tersely at the look on Angelina's face.  
  
"Have you ever seen her play?" Said Katie, "She's awful! Although you probably weren't watching her Quidditch skills." At this both Alicia and Angelina burst into laughter.  
  
"I heard from a girl in her year that she charms her robes to be too tight," said Angelina.  
  
"Oh, is that what it is?" Said Fred with a smirk, "I always just thought that they were too big."  
  
"Fred!" Exclaimed Angelina as she swung her broom at him, "You're terrible!"  
  
"Ouch Angelina!"  
  
"This is not helping!" Oliver was on his feet now and pacing around the room quickly, "We have to find someone, we can't rest until we find someone!"  
  
"Oliver it's not the end of the world!"  
  
"What do you mean that it's not the end of the world?" Oliver said whirling around to face George, "It's Quidditch! It's the most important thing in the entire world and Gryffindor hasn't won the cup since your brother was here! I can't STAND to see Marcus Flint and the rest of the Slytherin team take our cup!"  
  
"It doesn't have our name on it Oliver?" Said Katie, "It's not OUR cup."  
  
"Isn't It? We have the best ruddy team in all the school! The only reason we ever lose is because Jen wasn't a very good seeker, and now we don't have anyone!"  
  
"Jen was a perfectly good seeker Oliver, she caught the snitch almost all the time." Said Katie angrily, Jen was one of her best friends.  
  
"But she didn't catch it all the time."  
  
"No one can catch it all the time Oliver."  
  
"They could if they were a good seeker."  
  
"You don't save every single goal Oliver, how can you expect someone to catch every single snitch!"  
  
"Catching the snitch is more important!"  
  
"Oh I give up!" Replied Katie throwing her hands into the air, "I have potions in a half hour and I am not going to be late or Snape will put me IN a potion."  
  
"You can't leave! We have to find someone!"  
  
"I'm not staying here while you make impossible demands of nonexistent seekers."  
  
"Then find an existent seeker!"  
  
But Katie just lifted her hand to dismiss him and walked right out of the locker room with her broom still over her shoulder.  
  
"She can't do that!" Said Oliver to the other members of the team who were still standing around. "We need her."  
  
"Oliver are you aware that you just drove away a very important member of out team?" Angelina asked looking at him with annoyance, "What was that all about?"  
  
"What? I was just trying to find a seeker."  
  
"You were insulting Katie's best friend when you don't even have anyone to compare her with."  
  
"So now are you all going to turn against me?" Oliver said jabbing his broom at Angelina and the rest of the people that were still sitting there.  
  
"Oliver you are losing your mind." Said Fred, George nodded in agreement,  
  
"Just have tryouts, if there is anyone capable of playing seeker they will try out for the team." Oliver still looked dismal but he nodded.  
  
"Fine."  
  
***  
  
"Mr. Wood may I see you for a moment in my office please?" Professor McGonagall stood over the chair where he was sitting in the library thinking dismal thoughts about the future of the Quidditch team.  
  
"I'll see you later ok?" He said to Katie who was sitting next to him with a rather large Arithmancy book and parchment spread on the table. She nodded and he gathered up his books and left the room.  
  
Once they arrived in her office and Oliver sat in the chair across from her desk Mcgonagall began to speak.  
  
"As you know, we lost Miss Williams as our seeker this year, have you found any one to replace her yet?" Oliver sighed, he liked the fact that Professor McGonagall was so involved with the team, rumor had it that she had been a seeker herself when she was at school, but right now he didn't want to have to tell her the bad news.  
  
"Not yet." He replied simply, "We'll have to hold tryouts I guess." She looked slightly upset,  
  
"Don't you have an idea of anyone that could do it?" Oliver shook his head again,  
  
"We didn't have anyone try out that could be a potential seeker last year, but then again it's been a year for someone to get better and they know that we need a seeker so you never know." But Oliver didn't believe a single word that he was saying.  
  
"I hoped that our team would have a chance at the cup this year, we haven't won since Charlie Weasely left school."  
  
"I know," Said Oliver looking at the floor. "I'm sure we'll find someone." But he was lying, there was no one to find."  
  
***  
  
Oliver was going to go insane if he saw one more person fall from their broom on a perfectly easy dive. It was ridiculous that there seemed to be no one in all of Gryffindor capable of playing seeker. They were supposed to win the cup; they HAD to win the cup!  
  
"Oy Oliver!" Fred said pulling his broom next to his. "What about Greening, he didn't fall that far on the dive" He was trying to be cheerful, but it did nothing to improve Oliver's mood, and he just kept staring at the nightmare that was unfolding on the pitch.  
  
"Or Sharon," Fred continued, "She caught a couple of the golf balls when Angelina threw them and that girl has an arm," He said appreciatively.  
  
"Fred, she caught the two that Angelina tossed in front of her face."  
  
"Well she did catch them."  
  
"It's useless!" Oliver noticed that Fred didn't even try to rebuff what he said, and just hovered silently next to him. "Alicia could do it." Oliver still just stared out at the pitch. Fred was right, Alicia could do it, but then who could they find to replace her as chaser, none of the candidates had shown much promise at that either.  
  
He saw Angelina talking to Katie on the other side of the pitch, she was shaking her head and pointing to the second year who had just dropped the Quaffle after flying about six feet with it when a bludger came within four feet of him. Alica was trying to explain the triangle play to some of the other candidates who had come out.  
  
"It's easy," He head her say and he agreed, it was the easiest chaser play there was, you just flew in the shape of triangle and never passed through the middle of the shape.  
  
"NOT THROUGH THE MIDDLE!" He heard her yell as the Quaffle dropped down to the surface of the pitch with an auditable thump.  
  
"Useless," He muttered again to himself and with one last look at the disaster on the pitch he blew the whistle that hung around his neck. "TRYOUTS ARE OVER EVERYONE MEET OUTSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM!" He spent one last moment watching the scramble before he turned his broom to head back down to the locker room after the disaster that had been Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts.  
  
After landing Oliver found himself facing a group of rather excited looking such thing was wannabe Quidditch players, he grimaced slightly at what he was about to say, and they stopped looking as excited.  
  
"Alright," He began taking a deep breath and looking at Alicia who gave him a smile and a nod, so he continued. "You all did er fine." He said trying to mean it and hoping that at any moment someone who could actually be the seeker would fly down into the middle of the group.  
  
However, that didn't seem to be happening so he forced himself to focus back on the students who were still sitting in front of him. Didn't they realize how bad they were? They should be out practicing if they wanted to make the team.  
  
"We," He continued, gesturing to the rest of the team, "Have seen what you all have to offer and in a few days we will make our decision on who the new member or members of the team will be.  
  
They all got up and started to walk back to the castle seizing each other up to see which of them would be the new member. If it was possible Oliver thought it would be none of them.  
  
"I think that went well." Said Angelina brightly from Oliver's side.  
  
"Oh please tell me that you're being sarcastic." Fred replied propping himself up on his broom, "We're you watching, or dreaming of the perfect team."  
  
"Ha ha Fred, but this is what we have to work with, there is a month until our first match."  
  
"A month! We can't train someone to be seeker in a month." Angelina nodded,  
  
"No, but we can train a chaser." They all turned to look at Alicia who had been using her omnoculars to replay some of the better plays of the candidates.  
  
"Me as seeker?" She fixed them with a stare of total disbelief, "I couldn't even find the snitch, let alone catch it. I'm good at coming up with plays and throwing the Quaffle not catching tiny evil silver balls."  
  
"Alicia you have to do it, we don't have any one else." Oliver said looking up at her with a pleading expression, "You have been a chaser longer then anyone else, if anyone can do it, it's you."  
  
"The key word to what you just said is CHASER Oliver, I'm a CHASER."  
  
"But we need a seeker!"  
  
"We also need a chaser," Katie said speaking up for the first time from where she had taken up Alicia's Omnoculars, "Can you honestly tell me that anyone who showed up today could take her place as a chaser, we need her."  
  
"Then you do it." Oliver said.  
  
"No!"  
  
"Angelina?"  
  
"No."  
  
"George?" George laughed,  
  
"Oliver, mate, you are really losing your mind if you are asking me to be seeker, get a grip man!" Fred gave a snort of laughter.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I was just imaging you as the seeker." George shoved him. "Hey! You have to admit it would be funny." George rolled his eye,  
  
"Hey, what about Ron? He's wanted to play forever." Fred shook his head.  
  
"He's a keeper and I doubt that Oliver has any desire to play seeker, do you?" Oliver shook his head. They were doomed. It was all over.  
  
"Oliver it's not that bad." Katie was looking at him with concern in her eyes, "Cheer up! Let's just pick the best person and then train them until they can't take it anymore." Oliver nodded but didn't say anything. "Right then, who do we have?" George looked at the notes he had written while watching the trials.  
  
"Only three people caught more then one of the golf balls, and one of them fell of their broom in the process." Oliver nodded slightly but still looked gloomily at the floor.  
  
"So that leaves us with two people, Sharon and Charles." Oliver remembered both of them, Sharon had fallen on all her dives and Charles had pulled out so early that it could hardly be considered a dive."  
  
"Sharon." He muttered into the ground, "At least she's not afraid to try and dive for the snitch.  
  
***  
  
Oliver had spent three days putting off telling Sharon that she was the new Gryffindor seeker, he kept hoping that he would find someone who was really good and would be able to help them beat Slytherin.  
  
All of his classes had passed like a blur, and more then once he had been caught not paying attention by the teacher. Katie had been forced to poke him more then once to bring him back to reality.  
  
Now he had been sitting in charms for nearly half an hour and he had no idea what was going on. He heard Professor Flitwick talking but he just couldn't listen. They were going to lose the cup again.  
  
"What are we doing?" He whispered to Katie as the class all pulled out their wands apparently to attempt the charm that Flitwick had been teaching them.  
  
"Shrinking charms, haven't you been listening?"  
  
"No," He said flatly. Trying to remember the charm he knew he should have heard.  
  
"You can't still be on about Sharon, haven't you told her yet?"  
  
"No."  
  
"We need to start training her now."  
  
"All the training we can do in a month isn't going to help in the least, we would need a year to make Sharon a seeker, she has no natural aptitude."  
  
"Well she was your choice."  
  
"That just means that she was better then the other choices." They both turned around as they heard a knock on the door and Professor McGonagall stuck her head in the room.  
  
"Professor Flitwick, may I borrow Wood for a moment?" Wondering what on earth McGonagall could need him for in the middle of charms and half hoping that her announcement was that Quidditch was cancelled he went into the corridor.  
  
She seemed unable to contain excitement over something and was practically bursting at the seems.  
  
"Wood, I've found you a seeker."  
  
****Author's note****  
  
If anyone wants to beta this email me  
  
Princesslilianna@yahoo.com 


End file.
